International-News

Russia hits Ukraine with new raids: 20 dead, Putin ignores Trump threats

Russian raids continue unabated, hitting energy infrastructure and causing numerous casualties. Trump threatens sanctions, but the situation remains critical

Russia continues to ‘hammer’ Ukraine with new raids. Moscow forces in the night conducted new drone and missile attacks resulting in 20 deaths. At the moment, therefore, the threats of Donald Trump – who has threatened sanctions against Russia in the event of a new attack – have had no effect.

The new attacks show that Moscow’s objectives ‘do not change’ and that is why it is necessary to strengthen the sanctions, says Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. ‘These raids,’ he adds, ’show that Russia’s objectives remain unchanged. It is therefore very important to continue to do everything to protect lives, strengthen our air defences and tighten sanctions against Russia’.

The death toll in the new wave of Russian attacks that hit Ukraine in recent hours has risen to 20. According to reports, eleven people were killed and 30 injured – including five children – in Dobropillya, Donetsk, eastern Ukraine. Six other people died in the rest of the region, Governor Vadym Filashkin reported: one in Myrnograd, three in Pokrovsk, one in Kostyantynivka and another in Ivanopillya. Eight more people were injured in the raids that hit homes, shops and administrative buildings, and gas pipelines were damaged.

Another three people were killed and seven wounded in a drone and rocket attack in Bogodukhiv, Kharkiv region.

In the Kharkiv region, also in the east, a drone struck a factory in the city of Bogodukhiv, according to Oleg Sinogubov, head of the regional military administration. ‘Unfortunately, one person was killed, his charred body was recovered from the rubble. Seven other people were injured,’ he wrote on Telegram. The Russian Defence Ministry meanwhile announces that it intercepted 31 Ukrainian drones overnight, one of which targeted the Kirichi refinery in the Leningrad region.

Moscow claims new advances in Kursk, the Russian region invaded by Ukrainian armed forces since August 2024. The Russian Defence Ministry announces the recapture of three villages. According to a note, Moscow troops retook the centres of Viktorovka, Nikolaievka and Staraia Sorotchina.

The British Ministry of Defence estimated that on the night of 6-7 March, Russia launched the most powerful long-range weapons attack against Ukraine in 2025. According to London’s assessment, the night attacks conducted between Thursday and Friday saw the launch of 35 Kodiak cruise missiles, ‘accompanied by cruise missiles’ launched from Black Sea Fleet ships, along with short-range ballistic missiles and over 100 drones.

These attacks, like the previous ones, were mainly directed against ‘the Ukrainian energy sector, especially gas infrastructure’ with the aim, according to the British Ministry of Defence, of ‘demoralising the civilian population and weakening the Ukrainian economy’.

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